Process of treating vegetable fibers, yarns, and fabrics.



of Hudson and State of New ,UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTQE J O SEF HIRSCHBERGER,- OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO HERMAN A.

' METZ, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS OF 'JIIRJEATING? VEGETABLE FIBERS, YARNS, AND FABRICS.

No Drawing.

7 '0 all. whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J ossr HIRSCHBERGER, Ph. D., a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Jersey City, in the county Jersey, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Treating Vegetable Fibers,- following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved process of scouring and bleaching vegetable fibers and yarn and woven fabrics made therefrom, and has for its object the novel mode of extracting fatty, waxy, resinous, and oily impurities from these textile materials prior to bowking or boiling the same with alkalis.

The ordinary process of bleaching vegetable textile materials comprises essentially two main operations, the bowking or boiling with alkalis, and the destruction and re- .moval of the coloring .matter, which is usually accomplished by chlorid of lime or other suitable bleaching agents. It is well known that the basis of successful bleaching is an eflicient alkali boil. If the goods are not sutliciently bottomed, they resist the subsequent treatments necessary in bleaching, tinting, finishing, dyeing of light shades, printing, and steaming. To obtain .full whites unaffected by agin or for the production of vegetable fabrics suitable for the level dyeing of light shades or for uniform printing effects, in which the white is not affected by the subsequent steaming, it is necessary to treat the fabrics with a very prolonged alkali boil, or generally with a double alkali boil, with a number of operatie and weakening them,

The present invention is a process of treatment for eliminating these disadvantages. I have found that by the action of diluted solutions or emulsions of fatty sulfoacids on textile materials composed of vegetable fibers, the resistant impurities such as the oily, fatty, waxy, and resinous impurities of the fiber are dissolved and altered Specification of Letters Patent.

-Yarns, and Fabrics, of which the "oily impurities of the Patented Feb.17, 1914.

Application filed April 16, 1910. Serial N 0. 555,842.-

.. in condition so that they may be easily removed in the subsequent operations without prolonged treatment.

Goods which are most diflicult to bleach may, after being subjected to my specific treatment as outlined, be thoroughly bottomed and put in condition by bowking or boiling with alkalis from 1% degrees to degrees Tw., forabout six hours, while they would require, without my treatment, two alkaline boils of about ten hours each, with a number of operations (pulling out of keir, washing, souring, washing, replacing in keir) between the two boils.

By fatty sulfo-acids I means the products obtained by the action of strong sulfuric acid on vegetable or animal oils and fats such as castor oil, olive oil, corn oil, oleic acid, tallow, and other similar compounds or their derivatives. These sulfo-acids can either be directly diluted or emulsified with water and the goods passed through the liquid; or the goods can be passed through a diluted solution of a salt of the fatty sulfoacids and the fatty sulfo-acids liberated subsequently by passing the goods through a diluted mineral acid.

Although the fatty, waxy, resinous, and

terials are by this treatment removed more thoroughly than-is possible by the ordinary bleach, the goods do not lose more weight in the new process than in theordinary'bleaching process.

The new process has the further advantage that it removes not only the natural oils and waxes of the vegetable textile material, and not only the resistant impurities such as the saponifiable fats and oils of the sizing treatment, but also those resistant impurities such as the unsaponifiable fats and oils of the sizing treatment, and further those resistant impurities such as spots of mineral oil which may have stained the goods during the spinning or weaving process. The material to be bleached is passed vegetable textile mathrough this solution, care being taken that I I the time of immersion is not less than ten seconds, the temperature being between degrees F. and 150 degrees F. It is then squeezed out or extracted so that they weight of liquor remaining in the material is equal to the original weight of the goods. After this treatment the material is washed with washing, souring, and

sified with water, or they can water or with diluted alkali of about degree Tw., and is ready to be bowked or boiled with a diluted alkaline solution for a relatively short period, and then, if desired, can be subjected to the action of any usual bleaching agent. This method of treatment gives efi'ects and results which cannot be obtained by any previously known process. After being passed, as above'described, through a bath which contains about 1 per cent. of fatty sulfo-acids dissolved or emulsified in water and subsequently boiled for about six hours with caustic lye of the usual strength of about 2% degrees TWJ, the goods are turned out fully bottomed and so far cleansed that'after washing, they are sufficiently bleached for those purposes where only half-bleached material is required. Where full whites or the so called madder bleach is wanted, one subsequent treatment with weak calcium hypochlorite, with subsequent washing, souring, and washing, gives the desired results. Being a bottombleacli, the white will stand aging, the goods can be evenly tinted, dyed level in light shades, printed evenly and steamed without turningyellow. Similar results can be obtained by a modification of my process of bleaching with fatty sulfo-acids, by passing the goods threugh a solution of a salt of the sulfo-acids and then liberating the sulfoacids by passing the goods through a weak solution of a mineral acid, as for instance, sulfuric acid of 1 degree TW.

1 have found that 'efiects as described above can be obtained by employing the sulfoacids of the fats and oils, whether of vegetable or animal origin, and by the sulfoacids of their derivatives. These sulfo acids can either be directly diluted or emulfirst be mixed with volatile solvents like carbon tetrachlorid, turpentine oil, petroleum, etc., and then dissolved or emulsified with water; or the sulfo-acids can be employed in the form of their salts, either alone or mixed with volatile solvents,

with a subsequent liberation of the free sulfoacids.

The following is a specific example of the mixture of the sulfo-acid and a volatile solvent: 100 parts of fatty sulfo-aeid are warmed to about 85 degrees F., and mixed with 20 parts of carbon-tetrachlorid, 12 parts of this mixture are emulsified with 1000 parts of warm water and the goods passed through this solution.

I do not limit myself to the exact ingredients, proportions, temperatures, of strengths of solution mentioned above, as it is evident that they may be varied without departing from the essence of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The process of treating vegetable fibers, yarns, and fabrics, which comprises subjecting the same preparatory to the bowking, to the action of a substance containing a fatty sulfo-acid radical, and subsequently washing, whereby the resistant impurities of the fiber are rendered easily removable, substantially as described.

2. The process of treating vegetable fibers, yarns, and fabrics, which comprises subjecting the same preparatory to the bowk, ing, to the action of a substance containing a fatty sulfo-acid radical and a volatile solvent, and. subsequently washing whereby the resistant impurities of the fiber are rendered easily removable, substantially as described.

3. The process of treating vegetable fibers, yarn, and fabrics, which comprises subjecting the .same preparatory to the bowl:-

ing, to the action of a substance containing a fatty sulfo-acid radical by treating the goods first with a solution of a salt of a fatty sulfo-acid and afterward with a weak solution of a mineral acid, and subsequently washing whereby the resistant impurities of the fiber are rendered easily removable, substantially as described. v

4. The process of treating vegetable fibers, yarn, and fabrics, which consists in subjecting the same preparatory to thebowking, to the action of a substance containing a fatty sulfo-acid radical and a volatile solvent, by treating' the goods firstwith a solu tion of a salt of a fatty sulfo-acid and a volatile solvent and afterward with a weak solution of a' mineral acid, and subsequently washing whereby the resistant impurities of the fiber are rendered easily removable, sub stantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in presence of two-witnesses.

J OSEF HIBSCHBERGER.

lVitnesses:

PHILIP L. GLARKSON,

WM. C. BALL. 

